Tech —

Small wonders: the 2009 Ars USB flash drive roundup

Since our last roundup in 2005, USB flash drives have become ubiquitous. So …

Corsair Flash Voyager

Features:

Encased in rubber for
water-resistance and anti-shock

10-year warranty

Construction: The Corsair Flash Voyager first made an appearance in our 2005 review. While other manufacturers came up with new model names, Corsair stuck to its guns and merely updated the internals. Just like its predecessor, it is encased in rubber and is touted as being “durable” and “shockproof” on the packaging, but not “waterproof” explicitly. Though as we tested previously in 2005, it does act waterproof enough to shallow depths (like a glass of water).

While the rubber casing makes it shockproof and waterproof, it is not exactly “durable.” One of the most common ways to break a flash drive is to plug it into the USB port and then have something push against the drive (like your hand or leg) while still in the port. Better drive designs reinforce the USB connector with a stronger housing to prevent the connector from snapping off from the PCB that it is soldered to. This drive is merely encased in rubber and has no real support of this kind. While we experienced no such misfortune with the Corsair drive, the Patriot Xporter XT (of similar design) was not so fortunate. (We'll get to that part in a bit.)

Read / write speeds: The read speeds for this drive, random or sequential, are very strong; much stronger than the previous version that we reviewed just a few years ago. At 512-byte block size, the drive moves data at a very solid 1.25MB/sec and quickly ramps up to its maximum of 31MB/sec at the 64KB block-size and larger. Write speeds, like most flash drives, are a bit slower. Sequential writes start off slow, but ramp up to a maximum of 8.3MB/sec when it starts moving in 64 KB blocks. On the other hand, random writes are slow until the drive reaches its peak of 6MB/sec at the 8MB block size.

Kingston DataTraveler DTI

Features:

Cap attaches on end

5-year warranty

Construction: The Kingston DTI is a 2GB freebie that we picked up at a local computer mega-store as part of an in-store promotion; it normally retails for $5 or so. Like previous flash drive reviews here at Ars, we have always included a baseline model. In years past, this meant including something like a USB1.1 drive. In this case, we got a 2GB flash drive for free that happened to be manufactured by a well-respected memory maker: Kingston. If anything screams “commodity,” this is it.

The Kingston DTI is a basic, run-of-the mill, workhorse flash drive. It has a simple plastic housing, but the good news is that it feels decent and the cap snaps firmly onto both ends of the drive. It also has a keychain loop on the end, but the plastic construction does not seem strong enough to last for a long time on a keychain.

Read / write speeds: Considering that this drive was a freebie, the read speeds are surprisingly good. At 512-byte blocks, the drive moves data at a pokey 0.75MB/sec, but eventually hits its maximum of 19 to 20MB/sec at the 64KB and larger block-size. Sequential writes start off slow, but ramp up quickly to a maximum of 6+MB/sec when it starts moving in 64 KB or larger blocks. Unfortunately, random writes are slow until it reaches its peak of 4MB/sec at the 8MB block size, which is still relatively slow. But for something that was free, this is certainly acceptable performance.

OCZ Rally2

Features:

Lightweight aluminum housing

Lifetime limited warranty

Construction: Like many of the drives in this review, the OCZ Rally2 comes with nothing. All you get is a small flash drive with a well-constructed aluminum/plastic housing and a small loop on the end to attach the drive to something, perhaps a lanyard. The loop certainly is not large enough for most keyrings, but that's okay in our book. Most of us are only after the drive and will gladly do without the accessories of yesteryear.

Read / write speeds: The packaging claims something about “industry-leading” and “dual-channel technology,” so its supposed to be fast, right? Well, guess what? It is pretty fast. At 512-byte blocks, the drive moves data at a reasonable 0.75MB/sec, but quickly hits its maximum of almost 30MB/sec at the 64KB and larger block-size. Random reads seemed to be consistently slower by 1 or 2MB/sec, but this should not be noticeable in day-to-day operation. Fortunately, this drive is also pretty peppy when it comes to write speeds. The sequential writes start off slow, but ramp up quickly to a maximum of 12MB/sec when it starts moving in 64 KB or larger blocks. Like all flash drives, random writes are slow until it reaches its peak of nearly 10MB/sec at the 8MB block size. Overall, this drive has really solid performance.